Dr. Stan Pletcher started the Mission Eyes Network in 2006 in response to the need for better networking and information sharing for improving mission ophthalmology efforts.  He has practiced general ophthalmology with an emphasis in oculoplastics at Great Lakes Eye Care in St. Joseph, MI since 1997.  Prior to this he practiced in both Kentucky and Alaska.  He trained at Indiana University finishing in 1994.

Dr. Pletcher has been active in international missions starting as a youngster with his father, an oncologist.  Since beginning his medical training, he has traveled to Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Ecuador.  He also has spent extended periods living in Papua New Guinea and Dominican Republic.  Dr. Pletcher is active in the Christian Ophthalmology Society and serves on its board of directors.  He currently coordinates the yearly missions emphasis program.  

Besides practice and mission trips, he keeps busy with web site designing and programming, teaching jazz improvisation and beekeeping. He has been an avid photographer, trumpet and piano player.  His current international research projects include exploring new variants for pterygium removal on the mission field and developing a novel method for outcome monitoring for cataract surgery in mission settings.

Dr. Pletcher, his wife, Shelley and their four children have been living in Ecuador until spring 2012 where he is involved in starting an ophthalmology program at a small mission hospital for the eastern Amazon jungle provinces.